The desire to overeat
Losing weight after being a binge eater—without triggering more binges—can be tricky, which is why most approaches will barely touch the topic. I’ve left this issue to the end in this series on self-regard because without a solid foundation, any weight loss information I offer just risks being rehashed into another hysteria-driven, hate-based dieting mentality. I’m done with that, and I hope you are too. When we focus on losing weight, we’re just treating the symptom—the tip of the iceberg, the part of the problem that we can see. We’re not addressing what lies below, the bulk of the problem that we can’t see. We have to dive beneath the surface to find the underlying causes of being overweight. One of the biggest culprits is the desire to overeat—and that’s what Episode 12 is all about! In this episode, we continue the discussion we began in Episode 3 about using self-regard as your key ally as you end your binges. Self-regard can help you deal with your unhappiness with your weight, the temptation to diet to lose that weight and control your eating, your urges to binge, the bingeing itself, and weight loss after you stop bingeing.